Subordinates
by Quadrantje
Summary: JC A sudden twist in the command structure has some unforseen consequences.


**Disclaimer: The rights to 'Star Trek: Voyager' do not belong to me. No money is being made of this and noinfringement of copyright is intended.**

"How did I get myself into this?" Kathryn muttered out loud while crawling through a Jeffries tube. Another sway of the ship threw her against the wall, which had been only inches away as it was. Her hand involuntarily moved to her chest, but she stopped herself before she could hit her comm. badge and cursed instead. The grip on her toolbox intensified as she stubbornly continued crawling, the stinging in her right side pushed to the back of her mind. Without having to endure anymore of the ship's lurches, she managed to make it to the conduit she was heading for. With a firm pull, the panel came loose and a load of smoke billowed out. At the same time, she was once again slammed to the right and banged her head painfully against a bulkhead. A new stream of curses left her mouth, including a few that would have made even Seska blush, aimed at the inexperienced ensign – pardon, lieutenant – that was currently occupying the helm. The worst explicates, however, were directed at Tom Paris and Neelix, whose fault all of this was. Picking herself off the ground for the umpteenth time and managing to resist the urge to ask for a status report, Kathryn resolutely faced the burned out relay. She quickly located the problem and fixed it. Slamming the panel shut with what looked like enough force to break something, she was surprised that it didn't even show a dent before turning around with difficulty. Her way back to Engineering was accompanied by curses and threats of bodily harm for both Tom and their ever-cheerful Talaxian.  
"Ensign Janeway!" The command-level glare his usual Captain aimed at him while she climbed out of a Jeffries tubes hatch was almost enough for the newly-appointed Chief Engineer to back off, but he managed to gather his courage at the last moment. Kathryn would have been proud of him hadn't she been annoyed with him in the first place. Instead, she just kept glaring. It was to his credit his voice didn't waver while he delivered his order.  
"There was another burnout on deck 3. Get on it." Kathryn was about to call him on his insubordination when she realized he wasn't her subordinate anymore. Another explosion drowned out her newest angry rant.

By the time Kathryn returned to her quarters that night – which was a lot earlier than normally as she was sent home by the Chief Engineer once her shift was over – her mood was at an all-time low and all she wanted was a hot bath. She knew taking a bath was against the rules as that had been one of the conditions under which she'd been able to keep her quarters while being an ensign. They had actually wanted to move her to smaller quarters, but had finally decided that was too much of a hassle. So, she'd gotten to keep her quarters, but couldn't use her bath or real-water shower and her replicator rations had been cut. Right now, however, she didn't care about any of that and upon entering her living room headed straight for the bathroom without even turning on the light. Reaching her tub, she picked up one of her bath oils and ordered the computer to fill her bathtub. Instead of an affirmative beep and some nice warm water, however, the computer started playing a recoding by Tom Paris.

"Uh, uh… that's cheating! Luckily we figured you'd do something like this and cut power to your bath. And don't even think of rerouting power; it's all been coded with command codes, which you haven't gotten any more. Enjoy your day, Ensign!" The obvious cheerfulness in his voice, together with the prospect of not being able to bathe, caused Kathryn to loose her last shred of patience and with a loud howl she stormed out of the bathroom, having unceremoniously dumped the flask of oil in the defunct tub. With a great deal of restraint, she managed to suppress the urge to kill Tom Paris right that instant. After all, with Tom dead, they'd be stuck with whoever had been flying Voyager earlier and that wasn't a pleasant thought. Instead, she walked to the holodecks at a furiously high pace, determined to release some of her frustrations in a game of hoverball.

Thirty minutes later, a much more relaxed Janeway strolled into her quarters. But, however much her mood had improved, she was still pretty annoyed and frowned at Chakotay when she saw him reclining on her sofa.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be working on the duty roster?" Chakotay, though, didn't seem the least bit phased by her hostile demeanour and calmly waited for her to get a cup of coffee from the replicator and take a seat on one of the chairs.

"In case you've forgotten, that's a job for the First Officer and that isn't me anymore." His relaxed posture only irritated her further.

"Don't smile at me like that; this is all your fault." He merely lifted an eyebrow. "Because of you, Tal Celes is Captain of **my** ship and I had to put up with Simmons as Chief Engineer."

"If I remember correctly, this was all Tom's idea and it was him and Neelix who planned it. How is it my fault?" Unfortunately for him, the amusement he was feeling showed in his voice and Kathryn's eyes practically shot fire at him.

"You went along with them! 'It's good for crew's morale' you said, 'It'll be fun' you said. Well guess what; I didn't found it one bit amusing to have to crawl through my ship to fix everyone else's mistakes while that idiot at the conn made more loops and summersaults than a falling autumn leaf. I'd be surprised to hear we actually went forward today!"

"I think Jenny did very well. During the battle she performed those evasive patterns flawlessly."

"There was a battle?" Kathryn was momentarily speechless. "When was this? And why wasn't I made aware of it?"

"It was just after lunch. And as to why you didn't know, well, they didn't have the time to make a ship-wide announcement." Kathryn didn't seem very happy with that answer, but looked away, about to let the subject drop. Suddenly, her head shot up.

"**Why **exactly where we under attack? I thought there were only peaceful races in this region of space." Was it just her or did Chakotay suddenly seem nervous?

"Well…" He tugged his ear, a sure sign that he was getting uncomfortable. "There was a slight misunderstanding between Tal and a Ketor captain." Kathryn's brow furrowed and her voice took on a somewhat threatening tone.

"What exactly was this _misunderstanding_ about, Comm- Ensign?"

"It seems Tal didn't know the Ketor find it offensive if you stare at the ground while talking to them."

"What! You mean there was a battle because Tal was too shy to look at the Ketor captain?" Now Chakotay actually hesitated before answering.

"It wasn't so much that she didn't look at him, they just found that annoying. They only attacked after Tal started stuttering and trembling. Although, it could have been because she got so nervous that she lost her footing and fell against Lieutenant Delaney at the conn. That caused her to hit a few wrong controls and almost ram the Ketor ship." Kathryn had closed her eyes about halfway through his narrative and was now pinching the top of her nose, partly to stop her threatening headache and partly out of a desperate hope this might all be a dream and that might wake her up. When after about a minute neither had happened, she opened her eyes and looked at Chakotay, who was obviously waiting for her to say something.

"Just tell me it all worked out alright."

"Well, once they realized we had superior weaponry, they were willing to talk to us again. Harry had calmed Tal down by then and she did quite well."

"They do make a good team."

"Yes, at least Tom had the good sense to make Harry her First Officer." A sudden awkward silence descended on the room; neither of them was sure how to break it.

"So, where were you when I came, because I know you'd been off duty for a while by then." Chakotay finally said.

"I went to the holodeck. I thought that might help me relax after I couldn't use my bathtub." The last part of her sentence was accompanied by a mild glare. Chakotay completely ignored the jab and just kept on the conversation.

"What holoprogram did you run?"

"None. It seems the Delaney sisters as part of the **senior staff** had commandeered **both** holodecks." Chakotay chuckled softly.

"It's not so much fun to be on the other side of the line, is it?" Kathryn shot him an indignant look.

"I never use my authority for my own pleasure. And don't you say anything; I'm still holding you responsible for all of this."

"I'll keep that in mind. Next time, I'll tell Tom you're not interested."

"Next time! There isn't gonna be a _next time_." Kathryn relaxed somewhat. "Do you want something to drink?"

"No, thank you." He shifted slightly as Kathryn picked up her cup and deposited it in the recycler. Sitting down again, she kicked off her boots and folded her legs beneath her, curling up comfortably on the couch.

"You know, there is one positive side to all of this." Her tone of voice had softened noticeably and she smiled slightly. Chakotay realized he was now talking to Kathryn instead of the Captain.

"And what's that?" He turned more fully towards her.

"There's no more protocol. I can finally tell you that I love you." Chakotay almost asked her if he had heard her correctly, but although she had whispered, it had been audible. And moreover, the truth shone brightly in her eyes.

"I love you too." At his words, a beautiful smile lightened up her face and one of her hands tentatively came up to touch his cheek. They stared into each other's eyes and suddenly they their lips met. Finally, when they needed to come up for air, they separated, but still stayed close together and their eyes had locked again. Before either of them could say something, the computer beeped.

"_The time is oh-zero-hundred hours. All authorization codes have been transferred back to Captain Kathryn Janeway." _Chakotay was the first to speak.

"So I guess you're the Captain again." Janeway replied in the same soft voice he'd used.

"And I guess you're no longer the ensign at OPS." There was again a slight pause.

"Now what?" Kathryn didn't immediately answer, but instead stared out the view port to the bright star system outside. Chakotay didn't push and after a few minutes she returned her gaze to him.

"I don't want to go back to hiding my feelings for you. And you did say that Tal and Harry worked well together despite their relationship." Chakotay dared to hope she wouldn't reject him again. "I guess I have no more reasons to push you away besides that… I'm afraid." Kathryn's voice quivered slightly at those last words.

"Of what?" He gently pressed his palm to her cheek and she closed her eyes while leaning into the contact.

"Of loosing you."

"I won't ever willingly leave you." Their faces moved closer.

"I know. But what if you can't stop it? I don't think I could go on if I lost you after we'd begun a relationship. Maybe even married." His breathing quickened as she spoke the last word.

"Would it be any easier if we were still just friends?"

"No." Her answer was almost a sigh.

"Then what's stopping you?" He was so close that his breath was playing across her lips.

"Nothing." Their lips met. And for the first time, Captain and Commander kissed. For Kathryn and Chakotay, though, this second kiss signalled the beginning of their relationship as more than Captain and Commander, or even just friends…

_**Fine**_


End file.
